About
Oorali is a Kerala-based music and theatre collective from Thrissur, formed in 2010, that blends folk, reggae, blues and rock with theatre and visual art into what they call The Oorali Experience. Bringing together musicians, actors, writers and visual artists, and named after a prophet-figure of Malayalam myth who speaks against society's wrongs, they are known for raising social and political consciousness through their work.
Oorali began in 2010 as a performing ensemble under the Sadhana Centre for Creative Practice, scoring a bus-based theatre production, Odichodichu, staged inside a re-engineered bus. The songs outlived the production, and Oorali grew into a band and collective of musicians, actors and artists, with more than 500 performances across India over the following years. Known for socially engaged songs such as Kashtappedum, for their art-bus tours and, during the pandemic, for extended lockdown live-streams, they have become one of Kerala's most distinctive politically-conscious acts.
The artistry
Oorali's art refuses easy genre boxes: their performances weave folk, reggae, blues and rock with theatre, improvised acts and visual art, and their songs are built around concepts and social issues. Emerging from a theatre background, they are famous for their art-bus, a re-engineered vehicle that opens up into a mobile stage and living space, letting them take performance directly to people, and for a raw, radical, relatable live presence.
[Atlas Perspective] Oorali is a genuinely original collective, combining musical range, theatrical craft and social conscience. For festivals and programmes wanting a distinctive, issue-driven performance, they are a compelling, differentiated choice.
Oorali has pioneered a distinctive fusion of music, theatre and activism in Kerala, using folk and popular idioms and an innovative art-bus format to take socially conscious performance directly to the public. They are among the most original politically-engaged collectives in Indian independent culture.